It's Never That Easy
by SPT
Summary: A tag to "E Malama"; exposing a criminal never goes that smoothly. Minor spoiler alert.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: It's Never That Easy**

**Disclaimer: You know the drill, I don't own them, not making any money, etc.**

**Rating: K+ for language and violence**

**Author's Note: Did anyone else think that the issue with the tapes wrapped up a little too cleanly? Seriously, you can't have a good story arc without a little angst and whumpage; am I right? So here is my fix for the latest episode… and yes it contains spoilers. This is my first Hawaii Five-0 fic so constructive reviews are greatly appreciated.**

The Housing Commissioner, grumbled as he slowly poked his head through the swinging doors into the main room of the restaurant. His ears burned with embarrassment as every eye in the place turned to him; the contempt mingled with morbid curiosity and hung thickly in the air. Hoffman hurried quickly out the doors to his car, sighing in frustration as he waited impatiently for the valet to bring his beloved Land Rover around. There wouldn't be another one of those in his future if that damn detective carried out on his threats to expose the tapes. He could still feel the cold, hard steel of the badge against his forehead; he glanced quickly in the rearview to make sure it hadn't actually left a mark.

Pulling his cell phone from his pocket, he dialed a number from memory. He didn't like using them, but he wasn't about to go down without a fight. He'd seen it in William's eyes; there was no way the detective would back down after the Commissioner had involved his little girl.

"Meet me at the bar in an hour; I have another job for you."

Hoffman didn't wait for a response before clicking the phone shut and pulling out of the parking lot towards the heart of Waikiki. It was all very cut and dry in his head; Williams would simply have to die, and soon.

**Yes, I know it's short and I'm evil, but I promise there is more to come very soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you to everyone for the wonderful reviews, I will continue to update as often as possible.**

"Alright, let me see your hands."

Danny Williams raised an eyebrow at his partner's strange request, "excuse me?"

Steve rolled his eyes, "your hands; let me see them." His tone was the one that even Danny didn't argue with- usually.

Finally catching on Williams held up both hands, showing off his abrasion-free knuckles with an annoyed sigh. "I didn't hit him."

"Good," Steve replied, truly relaxing for the first time since his partner's phone call earlier that afternoon. He certainly wasn't used to being the voice of reason in this relationship and to be honest, he knew that he wasn't all that good at it. Although repeating 'don't hit him' wasn't bad advice, he should have been able to do better. Danny had worried him on the phone; he'd been too calm. A calm Danny was never a good thing, especially when it came to Grace. He'd been terrified that Danny would do something stupid, giving Rachael a reason to pull his visitation rights that even the Governor couldn't argue with. It would absolutely destroy the blond detective.

Williams grinned slightly, acknowledging his partner's concern. "At least I took the time to clean up properly before meeting up for a beer." He waved a hand at Steve and Chin's sweat soaked and dirt streaked clothes; "I mean seriously, someone would think you've spent the day crawling around in the jungle or something."

Chin shrugged somewhat sheepishly, "what can we say, a beer sounded really good after we did crawl around in the jungle all day."

"But you didn't get to beat anyone up," Kono grinned happily from the other side of the table, "I got to kick an assassin's ass."

The four friends continued to drink and shoot the breeze into the early evening, content in the knowledge that they'd saved an innocent life and helped put another murderer behind bars. McGarrett watched his partner put away another beer with a small frown. It was rare for Danny to drink more than one beer if it was a week night and that was his fifth being emptied now. The day had obviously worn on him more than he was letting on to his team.

"Alright gang, time to head home; we have to get an early start on that report writing tomorrow."

Kono and Chin shared an amused look before groaning theatrically in unison, "do we have to?" Chin winced internally; Kono was such a bad influence on him, but he had to admit he'd never had more fun at work than he did with these guys.

Steve tried to affix a stern expression on his face, but ended up chuckling along with the rest of his motley crew. It had been a rough day for all of them and he'd love to tell them to take the day off tomorrow, but there would always be more bad guys to put away. Steve grabbed Danny and Chin by the shirt collars, gently shoving them towards the door. He kept a hand on Danny's collar as the smaller man swayed slightly, "Danno, did you eat today?"

William's screwed his face up in a comically thoughtful expression, "um… no?"

Despite the tension of the day, the entire team broke out laughing. "Aww, our Haole's drunk," Chin chimed in happily.

Danny growled good naturedly but didn't refute the statement.

"Yup he is, and that's why I'm driving him home."

Steve quickly snagged the Camaro's keys from Danny's hand as they pushed through the front door into the fading sunlight. Williams opened his mouth to argue but quickly thought better of it; Steve was right, he was in no condition to drive. He really should know better than to drink on an empty stomach. He hadn't felt like eating at all that day, his gut had been tight with fear from the second he'd heard Rachel's voicemail. That fear had quickly turned to anger at Step-Stan once he connected the dots. The man had it all- including Danny's wife and daughter, how could he risk all that by getting involved in something so stupid. The rational part of his brain knew exactly why Stan hadn't come to him with the information, but the father in him really didn't care about the man's precious ego; Grace was his _daughter_ damn it! And those men had pointed a _gun_ at her! Danny knew he was brooding but couldn't seem to break himself out of it, especially once his thoughts turned to that damn Housing Commissioner. Just the thought of his shiny forehead and fake smile made Danny's blood boil all over again. Not only was the man a criminal but he was out there parading around as a humble civil servant. No wonder the everyday citizen had _zero_ respect or faith in their government these days. Williams couldn't wait to get those tapes and the rest of the evidence he was going to gather to the DA; he couldn't wait to see Hoffman's face at the trial.

Now if he could just find those two yahoos that were actually stupid enough to hold guns on Rachael and Grace. The Mercedes had been wiped clean, as had the entire house. They may be incredibly dumb, but he couldn't say that they weren't meticulous. But he would get them; one way or another they would slip up and he would take great pleasure in introducing them to a McGarrett-styled interrogation.

That thought managed to put a small smile on his face as he snuggled deeper into the comfort of the Camaro's passenger seat; visions of various tortures dancing in his head.

*******HAWAII FIVE-O*******

Hoffman scowled at the grubby, dark interior of the bar. He hated doing business here but it was the best type of place to do this type of business. The Jackson brothers fit the setting perfectly. Other than both being big and grubby, the brothers couldn't have been more different. Seth was the smart one- which wasn't saying much; with red hair and tattoos covering a majority of his body, he was the spokesperson. Hoffman wasn't even sure Sam Jackson was capable of intelligent speech and he'd never seen the man without the _Bass Pro_ baseball cap. Seriously, who wore _Bass Pro_ in Hawaii? But somehow they'd been naturally gifted in the criminal arts.

The Housing Commissioner squared his shoulders, this wasn't going to be quite as easy as asking them to hijack a car or ransack a house like he always had before. This was killing a cop. Watching the two brothers swill their beer, he somehow doubted they would have any issues with it.

"I've got another job for you," he stated, sliding into a rickety chair across the table form the brothers.

Seth rolled his eyes, "so you said. What is it?"

Hoffman took a breath, letting it out very slowly. "I need you to kill a cop; a Five-O detective actually."

Sam raised an eyebrow.

"He has the tapes that Edwards made," Hoffman continued, knowing that was the extent of the reaction he was going to get from the younger brother, "and he's the father of the little girl that was in the Mercedes."

"And this is our problem how?" Seth leaned back, balancing his chair on two legs. He didn't have any real qualms about killing a cop; it was the getting caught part that he wasn't so keen on. He'd heard all about Five-O and had no doubt they'd go to the ends of the Earth to find whoever killed one of theirs.

"Because I'm paying you to make it your problem." Hoffman smiled smugly, pulling out his metaphorical ace in the hole, "and because you held a gun on his daughter. Who do you think he's going to come after once he's got me behind bars?" Hoffman watched Sam crack his neck in true "thug" fashion and give his brother a quick nod.

"Fine, you care how it's done?"

"Not as long as you do it quickly and you get me those tapes. All the information you need is in there," Hoffman passed a large envelope across the table, "along with half of your payment. You get the other half when you bring me the tapes. His home address is in there too; I highly suggest you do it tonight. According to my sources, he never goes home before nine; that leaves you two hours to get in there."


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the short chapters, but it's all I have time for if I want to update regularly. Thanks again for all the great reviews.**

It took Danny nearly a minute to realize that the car had stopped and he was surprisingly pliant as Steve guided him out of the car and up to the door. Steve had the door unlocked and opened into the dark interior before coherent thought finally clicked in Danny's head. "This isn't my house."

Steve sent him a 'no shit Sherlock' look, "someone had to make sure you didn't forget to eat again or fall asleep with your clothes on and there was no way in hell I'm sleeping on that pull-out sofa you have the stones to call a bed." He gently shoved his partner down onto the couch and headed into the kitchen to figure out if there was anything edible in there or if he would be calling for takeout.

Williams knew he shouldn't be surprised that Steve had brought him here; they all tended to gravitate toward the beach-front house anytime one of them was injured or sick. Although he was neither, Danny was smart enough to know that he was better off not being alone tonight. If he was alone, he'd be focusing on the what-ifs. As in, what if Rachael hadn't complied with the carjackers demands as quickly as she did, or what if Hoffman had wanted to do more than just intimidate Stan. Danny dropped his head into his hands; he'd been fighting the urge to call Grace every five minutes to make sure she was ok. He'd given in six times already this afternoon. Shaking his head at his own weakness he pulled out his cell phone again; a smile instantly gracing his face as a little voice answered on the other end. "Hey Monkey, I just remembered you have show and tell tomorrow at school. What are you taking?" Danny felt the tension melt away as he listened to Grace excitedly describe her new paint set that she would be showing off the next day. Grace was fine and obviously bouncing back quickly from her morning ordeal as only a child could do. "Alright Monkey, you get to bed so you're ready for tomorrow. Remember, Danno loves you."

He would deny it to his dying day, but a single tear slid down his cheek as a little voice replied, "love you too Danno."

Steve watched silently from the kitchen doorway, feeling just a bit like a voyeur, but he was glad to see some of the tension drain from Danny's posture. His friend had every right to be freaking out; even Steve had been scared shitless when Danny told him about the carjacking. Their unit had become a very close knit little family and there was no doubt that Grace was a full-fledged member. They all loved the adorable munchkin; he knew that even Chin and Kono secretly spoiled her as much as he and Danny did. That little girl might look exactly like her mother but her personality was one hundred percent Danno.

Deserved or not, he needed to get his partner out of this funk. In their line of work it really didn't pay to focus on what could have happened. He knew they would need to talk about what Stan had gotten himself into, but that would wait until tomorrow morning, tonight was about football and light-hearted male bonding.

He moved into the room as Danny clicked his phone shut, tossing the other man a cold bottle of water. "Got a pizza in the oven, and before you ask, no it doesn't have pineapple or any other fruit on it."

"Thanks Steve."

McGarrett didn't need to see his face to know that Danny was talking about a lot more than just the pizza. "No problem. So pizza then bed?"

Danny raised an eyebrow after glancing at the clock, it was nine o'clock. "Awe, did the big bad SEAL wear himself out playing Rambo in the jungle today?" His only response was a rather hard punch to the shoulder as Steve turned on the TV and found the football game. Danny still felt that Thursday night professional football was wholly un-American, but he couldn't deny that it was nice to be able to watch a game in the middle of the week.

*******HAWAII FIVE-O*******

It was two in the morning and Seth Jackson was done waiting; Williams obviously wasn't coming home tonight. They'd already searched the small studio apartment- not exactly a monumental task, and hadn't found the tapes. Williams had either left them at the Five-O headquarters or he had them on him. Jackson was hoping it was the later, searching the task force offices unnoticed would not be easy. That being said, a simple but effective plan was quickly forming in his devious mind. It would be risky, but if it worked they would take care of Williams and the tapes in one fell swoop.

He pulled out his cell and dialed Hoffman's number, delighting in the fact that he would be waking the other man from a sound sleep. "Williams isn't here," he stated, not bothering with pleasantries. "We'll hit him in the morning, I've got it all figured out."

Hoffman cringed on the other end of the line, "you're not planning to bring the daughter into again, are you?"

"No, there's no point to it if we're going to kill Williams anyway."

The Housing Commissioner let out a sigh of relief, careful not to wake his sleeping wife. He was fine with blackmail, extortion and such; even killing the detective didn't bother him all that much, but harming a child just didn't sit well. That was one reason he kept using the Jackson brothers for any job that needed to be done, they did it simply for the money and because it was the one thing they were good at. Neither had an especially violent personality, but had no issue using violence if need be. They did only what was needed to get the job done, no more, no less. Still, he wouldn't relax fully until Williams was dead and the tapes were in his hands.

"Fine, just make sure he doesn't have time to do anything with those tapes."


	4. Chapter 4

"I can't believe you didn't want to get your car before we came to work." Danny's hands were in rare form as he laid into Steve, "it's bad enough that you insist on driving _my_ car all the time, but now I'm going to have to chauffer your ass around the rest of the day."

Steve just smirked and tuned out his partner like he always did when Danny went off on a pointless rant; contrary to popular belief he did actually listen to the ones that applied to a case or Danny's feelings about the team's safety. He was glad his partner was returning to normal though, Steve had been truly worried about him yesterday afternoon. He still hadn't gotten the whole story about what Stan had gotten himself into, Danny's explanation had consisted mostly of the words 'that stupid moron'. Steve had tried not to laugh.

He really did try to focus on the paperwork, but it was just so boring. That's why he usually managed to procrastinate until Danny just did it for him. Unfortunately, Danny hadn't been there yesterday, which meant that Steve actually had to do this report on his own.

Fifteen minutes later Steve was no further along when Danny poked his head back into the office, "you know that report's not going to write itself, right?"

Steve just grumbled indistinctly.

"You know Chin and Kono are already done with theirs, right?"

Another slightly longer grumble.

Danny smirked, "right. Well HPD just called, I've got to run over there talk to them about the break-in at Rachael and Stan's _mansion_." The sarcasm practically dripped from the last word. "Anyway I'll be back in about an hour. Hope you don't need to go anywhere before I get back…" he left with one parting shot.

Steve just waved him off. If he could get these reports finished before Danny got back then he'd finally be free to actually hear about what had happened yesterday. The only thing Steve really knew about Stan was that Danny absolutely detested the man and that he was some sort of real estate developer. Steve hated real estate developers; they were corrupt to the core more often than not and if they had their way, there wouldn't be a scrap of green left on the island of Hawaii. Steve mentally stopped himself, ok, so they probably weren't _all_ that bad, but still Danny didn't like Stan and Steve trusted Danny's instincts implicitly.

Danny whistled a little tune to himself as he trotted down the Palace stairs. He may not have Chin's computer skills, but he'd already managed to find some very damning evidence hidden in Hoffman's financials. The man had managed to hide them fairly well, but he'd slipped up making three large cash purchases over the last eight months; purchases that he shouldn't have been able to make on a government salary. That plus the tapes Step-Stan had made would make the DA a very happy woman.

Speaking of the DA, Danny smiled slightly, he owed her a phone call and a very nice dinner since he'd lost their latest bet on the Jets. It was nice to deal with another mainlander on a somewhat regular basis; especially one that was female, single, and very good looking. Danny continued whistling as he pulled the Camaro keys from his pocket. Today might actually be a good day.

A hundred yards away, Seth Jackson watched his prey as the Detective approached the silver muscle car. He was impressed with the amount of information Hoffman had managed to put together in such a short amount of time; must have had a damn good source. Of course Seth had some very good sources of his own. Sources that had gotten him the materials he needed to build the two small devices that were now hard-wired to the ignition and the gas tank of the camaro. It really was a shame to do that to such a beautiful car, and there was no doubt the car would be anything but small, smoldering pieces of metal when this was all said and done. Most people thought that one device wired to the ignition was enough, but that's how they usually got themselves caught. The ignition bomb would definitely kill the driver instantly, but it was rarely enough to destroy itself. That's why you needed a second device on the gas tank to completely obliterate the car and both devices.

Jackson silently congratulated himself on a well thought out plan as he readied his thumb over the remote. That was another ingenious part of his plan; there was never a guarantee that the bomb would trigger when the car started, so he always had a backup plan.

Danny slid into the driver's seat, reviling in the feel of the soft leather. He loved this car. It was the one personal indulgence he'd allowed himself to make moving to Hawaii a little more bearable; this car wouldn't have lasted two days in New Jersey. Hence the reason he flipped out every time Steve decided to use the car like his personal matchbox racer.

Speaking of Steve, he'd forgotten that he let the other man drive that morning; the seat was about eight inches further back than it needed to be for him to drive. He stuck the key in the ignition as he reached down for the lever to pull the seat forward. The seat moved quickly and he cursed as his bad knee smacked into the underside of the dash. He reached for the key again as something clicked in his head, there shouldn't have been anything low enough on the dash for him to hit. He scooted the seat back again and leaned down to look under the dash, all the while cursing Steve for breaking his bellowed car.

He was not prepared to find a block of C-4 fully wired into his steering column, and from the looks of things it was primed and ready to go.

His first instinct was to throw the car door open and get away from the car as fast as humanly possible, but then he remembered a case from Jersey were a politician had done just that. The State Senator had made it about two inched before the pressure plate that had been wired to the driver's seat was triggered. A quick, hands off inspection of his own car revealed that the explosive was only wired to his ignition. Plan A it was.

Taking a deep breath, Danny threw open the car door and ran for all he was worth.

*******HAWAII FIVE-O*******

Steve's head whipped up as the sound of a distant explosion ripped through the Palace, "Was that?"

Chin and Kono were already on their feet.

"It came from the parking lot," Chin called as he and Kono raced out the door behind their boss.

All three were thinking the same thing; Danny would have just had enough time to get to his car.


	5. Chapter 5

And that was why he always had a backup plan. Somehow Williams had discovered the bomb under the dash before he'd started the car. He'd made it nearly twenty yards before Jackson had gotten over his surprise and triggered the remote. He was actually quite impressed with the Detective's aerial acrobatics, but the landing left something to be desired.

Knowing he didn't have much time, Jackson raced over to the downed man. Williams had landed mostly on his left side, various sizes of glass and metal shrapnel decorated the back of his right shoulder, flank and thigh. The blood was already beginning to seep from those wounds and what was probably a pretty nasty head wound. If Williams wasn't dead already he soon would be.

Jackson quickly kicked the Detective over onto his back and commenced with a thorough search of all his pockets. The tapes were nowhere to be found.

People were already starting to converge on the scene when Williams stirred briefly beneath his hands; that answered the dead or alive question. Jackson reached to the small of his back for the 9mm that he always kept there. He needed to do this quickly if he was going to have any chance of escape, except that his hand closed on empty space. Seth wasn't a man known for indecision and he sure as hell wasn't going to jail for someone like Hoffman; he shot to his feet and away from the scene like an Olympic sprinter from the starting blocks.

He could only hope Sam had better luck.

"Chin!" Steve pointed to the fleeing figure even as he continued to sprint towards his downed partner. He and Kono dropped to their knees on either side of Danny, the heat from the smoldering wreckage behind them quickly turning their faces a bright red. Both winced at the extent of the damage done to their friend. Steve dropped two fingers onto Danny's neck, releasing a huge sigh of relief when he felt a strong but erratic pulse beneath his fingers, "he's alive."

Kono jumped back to her feet, "I'll grab the first aid kit from the office." The title 'first aid kit' didn't begin to describe the large duffle bag they kept in the office- a paramedic would be proud to have that kit.

Steve nodded absently, also noting in the back of his mind that one of the other bystanders was already calling 911 which left him to focus on making Danny as comfortable as possible. The whole left side of Danny's forehead and cheekbone were scraped and raw with a bloody two-inch cut up near his temple. That worried Steve, but what terrified him was the amount of metal and glass embedded in Danny's side. Making sure not to jostle Danny's head and neck, he gently shifted his friend's weight off the majority of the shrapnel, but other than that and putting pressure on the head wound there wasn't much he could do for Danny right now. He knew that trying to mess with the shrapnel right now would only make things worse.

"Danno, come on buddy, time to wake up." His friend remained frustratingly still, Steve continued anyway. "Danno, why the hell didn't you tell me this thing with Stan was something big… I would have watched out for you better. Damn it Danny, I'm supposed to be the one who's not used to being in a partnership, not you." He brushed the blond hair off Danny's bloody forehead; the Jersey native would be seriously ticked if he saw the singed state of his hair right now.

Out of the corner of his eye, Steve saw Chin dragging a dazed and uncoordinated red-head behind him. Both looked a little worse for wear but Chin had clearly come out on top. A small part of Steve relaxed slightly, knowing that they had caught at least one of the people that were responsible for his friend's current condition.

Speaking of Danny's condition, where the hell was Kono with that first aid kit?

Sam Jackson searched the desk quickly and efficiently, not bothering to hide his tracks. As long as they had the tapes, there was nothing Williams could do but bitch and moan. He'd just come up empty handed from the last drawer when a soft voice of steel sounded behind him.

"Put your hands on your head and step away from the desk."

A quick glance behind him told Jackson that his "capture" was a petite woman that couldn't have weighed more than a hundred pounds soaking wet. This, he thought to himself, was going to be a piece of cake. He slowly started to move his hands toward his head, but at the last minute he whipped around and lunged toward Kono.

The rookie easily side-stepped his diving tackle and delivered a sharp kick to the middle of his back as he continued head-long into the wall. "Seriously?" Kono asked incredulously, her weapon never wavering from the dazed imposter. She really would have liked to give the man another shot at her just to prove that she could kick his ass no matter what, but right now Danny needed that first aid kit and she needed to know that he was going to be ok. Snagging a pair of handcuffs that were lying on Danny's disaster area of a desk, she flipped the bigger man onto his stomach and efficiently secured his wrists. So what if they were a little too tight, he wouldn't lose complete circulation in his hands for several hours. Keeping half an eye on Jackson, she snagged the large duffle bag and hauled the man to his feet.

Steve and Chin's eyes widened in surprise as Kono came jogging down the sidewalk, forcing another handcuffed man to run alongside her. "What the hell?"

"Caught him rifling through Danny's desk."

Chin took in the other man's rapidly blackening eye and knew it hadn't gone as easily as Kono let on. Not that he had any room to talk, his prisoner was probably going to need a trip to the Emergency Room.

Kono left her idiot on the curb with Chin and hurried over to Steve and Danny with the first aid kit, pulling out packages of gauze as she went. She handed several pads to Steve as she went about padding and stabilizing the bigger pieces of shrapnel that were embedded in Danny's thigh. Danny shifted slightly, releasing a broken groan as Kono accidently jostled one of the pieces slightly.

Steve jumped on the change in mental status, watching his partner blink in the bright sunlight. "Danny, come on sleepy head, you with us?"

"Oww."

Steve couldn't help his snort of amusement. "I bet buddy. Didn't you know you're supposed to stay away from car bombs?"

"Car bomb," Danny repeated, his brain sluggishly deciphering what Steve was saying. "MY CAR!" He instantly regretted trying to sit up as pain exploded from every inch of his body but seemed to center in his head and along his right side. "Oww," he repeated breathlessly.

Steve and Kono gently settled him back onto his left side. "Yeah, don't do that again. I'm sorry about your car, but it was only a car."

"Says the man who tried to total it on a regular basis," Danny retorted weakly.

The other Five-O detectives shared a look, Danny was losing too much blood, he was starting to fade on them again. "No you don't, stay with us Danny." Steve sighed with relief when he finally heard the tell-tale wail of the ambulance sirens. He looked back down as his partner softly hit his arm.

"Tell Grace, Danno loves her."

Steve panicked, "Hey, no, you're going to be fine Danno, you tell yourself. You're not allowed to give up!"

Danny rolled his eyes, then squeezed them tightly shut as nausea reared its ugly head. "Of course I'm going to be ok; thought you Army grunts were supposed to have at least a couple of brain cells. I just don't want her to worry until I can tell her myself."

Steve shook his head; yup, Danny would be fine. "How many times do I have to tell you; I'm Navy."


	6. Chapter 6

Kono let her head bounce off the wall behind her when Steve jumped out of his chair for the fifth time. "Brah, please stop pacing, you're making me dizzy. They promised us he was stable, it's just going to take awhile to removal all the shrapnel."

Chin smirked from the other side of the waiting room; Kono had definitely picked up the family irreverence for authority. Not that any of them had the quintessential supervisor-subordinate relationship with Steve, they were very much a team. And he had to agree with Kono, Steve was driving him to distraction and had been for the last two hours. The man really did not have a patient bone in his body.

McGarrett ignored the glares and comments from the healthy half of his team. Part of him wanted to see Danny just so he could wring his partner's neck; now he knew how Danny usually felt. Danny was always yelling at him about personal vendettas, going off half-cocked, not calling for back-up, etc, but now the shoe was on the other foot. Steve really didn't like it. Although, to be fair, Danny probably had every intention of giving him the full story- or most of it at least- as soon as he asked. Steve just hadn't asked yet. Not to mention, he would love to know what Sam Jackson had been searching for in Danny's desk. Kono and Chin had stuck around the Palace long enough to ID their two prisoners and make sure both were safety delivered the HPD lock-up while Steve had ridden in the ambulance with his partner. Steve had their booking photos in his pocket right now; as soon as he saw that Danny really was ok, he was headed straight to Rachael's house. He would put big money on the Jackson brothers as the two carjackers that had started this whole fiasco just yesterday morning.

"Commander McGarrett?"

Chin and Kono jumped to their feet as Steve turned quickly to find the doctor that had forcibly kicked him out of the ER less than three hours ago, but not before Steve made sure she knew exactly who they had to talk to as soon as they finished with his friend. What was it with small female doctors being scary as all hell?

"Detective Williams is being settled into a room now, he's going to be staying with us for a couple of days so that we can keep an eye on any infections that might crop up."

Steve winced, knowing exactly what his partner would have to say about that. "So he's going to be ok?"

The petite doctor nodded quickly, "he's going to be out of the police work business for awhile yet, but yes he will make a full recovery. There was a small internal bleed from one of the larger pieces that hit his flank, but we've taken care of it. There is also some pretty extensive muscle damage to his right shoulder and hamstring and a couple of cracked ribs on his left. All that plus a mild concussion is going to keep him down for a couple of weeks." Dr. Fraiser watched the team closely as she detailed their friend's condition, it was obvious that they were a tight knit group. Detective Williams was an extremely lucky man; from what she had been told of how he had been injured, it really should have been much worse. "He should be settled now, but don't expect him to be awake, we had to sedate him quite heavily to remove all the shrapnel."

The other three trooped along behind her to a private room at the end of the hall. Sure enough, their Haole lay pale and unmoving on a standard issue hospital bed. Steve winced at the nasty looking road-rash covering the left side of his face; that had to hurt. Deciding there wasn't much point in reading Danny the riot act if the other man wasn't awake to hear it, Steve squeezed his friend's hand before turning to leave.

"Kono, stay with him, I'll be back soon. Chin, why don't you go have a little chat with those two morons down in lock-up, see what they'll give you."

Kono looked up as she settled herself into the one available chair, "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see Rachael and Grace. They need to be told about Danny before they hear it on the news and I have no doubt this has something to do with the carjacking yesterday."

The drive to Rachael's didn't take long in the light mid-day traffic. Steve actually wished it would have taken longer; this wasn't exactly a conversation he was looking forward to. Pulling up to the house, Steve could understand why Danny resented Stan so much; the entire property was built to scream "I have serious money". Steve schooled his features into what he hoped up a somewhat pleasant expression. Rachael would know something was up with Danny the second she saw him and the last thing he needed right now was her jumping to the wrong conclusions.

Sure enough Rachael's eyes started welling up the second she saw Steve standing outside her front door, she put on a brave face but Steve could tell she was upset. "What happened?"

"Danny's going to be fine. He was injured in an explosion this morning, lots of cuts and bruises, mild concussion, some cracked ribs, but he will be fine," Steve reiterated.

Rachael took one deep calming breath; she had promised herself long ago that she would never cry over Danny again. Not that she expected to be able to promise to herself. "Does this have something to do with yesterday?"

Steve swallowed his anger, amazed that she could be so cold when someone she once claimed to love had been injured. "You tell me." He held up the pictures of the Jackson brothers.

"Those- those are the men that carjacked Grace and I yesterday."

"They're also the men that put a bomb in Danny's car this morning, and then tried to ransack his office. You have any idea what they were looking for?"

Rachael's face paled considerably when she heard the word bomb. She was about to answer the question when they both heard the front door open, followed by an excited shriek.

"Danno!"

Rachael pulled her daughter into a tight hug as soon as the little girl ran into the living room. Grace was a smart girl, she didn't need to be told, "Danno's ok, right Uncle Steve?"

Steve melted; he squatted down in front of the little girl that had stolen his heart the first time they met. "He will be Grace. Someone tried to hurt him today, but you know Danno always come out ok."

"Can we go see him now?" Grace turned pleading eyes on her mother.

Rachael hesitated, not wanting Grace to see her father when he was less than perfect. As much as she didn't like it, Danny was Grace's hero and she would hate for anything to knock him off that pedestal in her daughter's mind.

Luckily, Steve came to her rescue, "why don't I'll call you tonight when Danno wakes up, I'm sure he would want to know you were there." He stood up to face Rachael, "Why don't you bring Stan along; I'd like to have a chat with him."


	7. Chapter 7

The sun was sinking low in the sky by the time Danny managed to fight off the last of the sedatives. The first sensation he became aware of was a deep, general ache that seemed to encompass his entire body. He lay still, waiting for his recent memories to come flooding back to him like they always did after a concussion; and there was no doubt in Danny's muddled mind that he did have a concussion. He groaned aloud as he remembered finding the bomb under his dash and then his beautiful, sexy, fun car exploding behind him as he literally ran for his life.

"Danny, you finally with us Brah?"

"No, I'm going back to sleep." Or at least that's what he meant to say, the mumble that came out sounded somewhat differently.

Steve managed to at least decipher his meaning and he knew it was a low-down, dirty trick but he really wanted Danny to wake up and re-affirm that he really was okay. "Grace is on her way."

The Jersey native was instantly alert, "Grace?" Danny tried to sit up straighter but found it to be a more difficult task than he expected due to having one arm strapped to his chest and several very uncooperative muscles. His three teammates were instantly at his side, fluffing pillows, adjusting his sling and generally pampering their friend. Finally satisfied that he was comfortable, Steve, Kono and Chin resumed the seats they'd confiscated from the other rooms nearby. "So Grace is coming?"

Steve nodded, "I was going to wait until you woke up, but then it didn't look like that was going to happen before she had to go to bed so I called anyway; they should be here in about twenty minutes. So, in the meantime you're going to tell me why one idiot put a bomb in your car and another one was ransacking your desk. Two idiots who happen to be cooling their heels in lock up and apparently seem to think their mouths have been glued shut."

Danny pursed his lips, "well, barring any former friends of yours coming by to say hi, I'm guessing this was about the tapes Stan made."

"Tapes of what?" Kono chimed in for the first time since Danny had woken.

"The Housing Commissioner was extorting money from Stan to get the permits put through for his latest property development. Stan thought he would play the hero and tape a couple of their conversations." Danny paused, taking a shallow breath; damn, he hated broken ribs. This type of explanation needed gestures but he was kind of limited with one arm in a sling and no energy to move the other. "Then the dumbass, well intentioned, but dumbass none the less, went and told Hoffman- the Housing Commissioner, that he had made the tapes. And did he consult me, the expert on nailing criminals; no of course he didn't because he's Super-Stan."

Kono and Chin shared a look; it was nice to see Danny ranting, even if he still couldn't use his hands.

"So where are the tapes now?"

Danny gave his partner that very familiar 'what are you crazy?' look. "It's in the evidence safe back at the office; where else would I put it?"

Steve could have kicked himself; of course Danny would follow procedure.

"There's also some of his financial statements and phone records in there along with the tapes; Chin, you can probably make more sense of those than I can."

Chin nodded slightly, "is it enough to convict?"

"With Stan's testimony, it should be." Something clicked in Danny's head as he mentally went over the evidence, "wait, you said you had two guys in lock up? If they're the guys that carjacked Rachael and Grace, I get to talk to them."

Steve just shook his head, Danny couldn't move without causing himself a significant amount of pain but he still wanted to have a go at the people who'd held a gun on his daughter. Although, maybe Danny being partially out of commission during that chat would be a good thing; they did need their suspects in one piece after all. That was his whole plan in sending Chin to interrogate them first. "I'm sure that can be arranged."

He was saved from further comment by Grace's exuberant arrival, "Danno!"

Danny's smile lit up his eyes, "Hey Monkey!"

Grace hesitated slightly before gently climbing up alongside Danny's left leg, "You're okay, right Danno?"

"Of course I'm okay Monkey, you know nothing could keep me from seeing you." He gently tugged on her arm, pulling her lightly to his chest. "Danno loves you."

Grace lay there for several minutes, reveling in the feel of her father's strength. She knew Danno would always save her, just like she knew Uncle Steve would always watch out for her Danno. "You caught them, right Uncle Steve?"

"Two out of three Grace and we'll have number three very soon."

Steve eyed Rachael and Stan as Grace went back to hugging her father; he motioned for Stan to follow him out of the room. McGarrett didn't sugar coat it, "you realize Danny's lying in there because you were too stupid to come to us first."

Stan winced at the blunt delivery, "I thought-"

"No you didn't think, that's your problem, because if you had _thought_ Grace and Rachael wouldn't have been carjacked, your house wouldn't have been broken in to, and my partner wouldn't have come within a couple of feet of being killed by a car bomb." Steve took a step forward into Stan's personal space, "a bomb, I might add, that probably would have been in _your_ car if Danny hadn't been smart enough to figure out what was going on."

Steve forced himself to step away from the other man before he did something he was sure Danny had wanted to do for over a year. "Now, you are going to tell me everything that happened from the first time you met Hoffman."


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry, for the delay- I know all of you were waiting with baited breath (just kidding), but four feet of fresh powder on the mountain and a brand new pair of skis just couldn't be ignored.**

"You did what?"

Stan held up his hands in defense, "I just wanted him to stop raising the price; I didn't think he'd actually come after us."

"You didn't think…" Rachael's voice trailed off as she collapsed into the waiting room chair, shaking her head in disbelief as her brain sifted through everything Stan had just told her. She'd divorced Daniel because she was afraid of him getting hurt or bringing danger near her and Grace. Now Stan had gone and done the same thing except worse, because Danny- who was technically an outsider to the situation, was the only one who had been injured. "And I just said 'thanks again'?" she murmured to herself. That didn't even begin to cover it. She wanted to tell herself that Danny had only gotten involved because of Grace, but she knew he would have come running even if Rachael was the only one involved.

She finally turned back to face Stan, "Why didn't you tell me what was going on?"

Stan could only shrug slightly, "I didn't want you to worry."

"Well I'm bloody well worried now." Fire flashed in her eyes as she stalked towards Stan, "those people put Daniel in the hospital; what are they going to do to us if they come back? Daniel won't be available to save your ass this time… or were you just planning to run off Thailand again and leave Grace and I to the wolves?"

Stan opened his mouth, but couldn't manage to get a word out before Rachael stalked back into the hospital room to collect her daughter; he was still frozen in shock when Rachael left the hospital with Grace trailing reluctantly behind. He really hadn't expected Hoffman to do anything; he was a government official for Pete's sake, why would he risk that. But if he was honest with himself, Stan knew the answer to that. It was the same reason he had paid Hoffman the first couple of times he'd needed a permit for his property: greed, the end justified the means.

"I'm having a unit take them to a safe house. Another unit will take you there when you're ready, but I'd wait awhile if I were you."

Steve moved past him without waiting for a response, he had security arrangements to make. If Hoffman were smart he would be panicking right about now; the Jackson brothers were just waiting for the right deal before they rolled on Hoffman, they had no loyalty to him. Hoffman was now on his own in the big, bad world of crime, and chances were the first person he would go after was Danny. Especially since Danny had been so adamant that he was the one in control of the case now.

Stan let out a heavy breath, realizing that he was still standing in the middle of the hospital hallway like an idiot. "Wow, I really screwed up," he muttered to himself.

"Ya think?" Kono couldn't help herself, knocking Stan off balance as she brushed past him on her way to confer with Steve.

Inside the room Chin and Danny were having their own strategy session. "You just have to focus on the fact that the Camaro was an essential part of your and Steve's effectiveness. I'm sure the Governor will see reason."

Danny was fading fast but he still managed a smirk, "we do average at least one car chase a day."

*******HAWAII FIVE-O*******

Hoffman was panicking.

He'd seen the news, seen the Jackson brothers handcuffed and sitting on the curb, heard the fact that the damn Five-O detective had survived the car bomb, and had even seen Williams joking with his team as they wheeled him to the ambulance. It just wasn't fair.

To top it all off, he still did not have possession of those tapes.

The rational sliver of Hoffman's brain that had survived his ethical break with the rest of the world, told him that it was time to throw in the towel. Unfortunately that sliver didn't have much control over his life decisions anymore; and the rest of his brain was telling him that he could still get rid of both the bothersome Detective and those damn tapes. He would do it tonight, hopefully before the rest of Five-O had time to arrange proper security for their injured member. Then he would head straight to their head quarters and find the tapes; nobody would question him being in the Palace, he was a government official after all.

Deciding on his course of action, Hoffman quickly headed to his car, making call after call along the way. It was surprisingly easy to find which hospital and room number Williams had been assigned too, all he had to do now was play the concerned politician.

Half an hour later found him walking the halls of Honolulu General with a simple flower bouquet. He looked just like another concerned friend trying to see a patient after visiting hours were over. The fifth floor appeared just as quite as all the others when he stopped outside room 521. He knew he should be cautious, but he was so close to finishing this that he could taste it.

He quietly pushed the handle in and pushed the door open, cringing as it creaked loudly. The darkened room was quiet as a tomb; Hoffman could barely make out the figure snoring softly in the bed. There was a surprising lack of machinery in the room considering the patient had survived a car bomb earlier in the day. Extra bedding had been laid out on an empty chair, obviously waiting for one of the team to bed down while keeping an eye on their injured friend.

Picking up one of the pillows, he thought it would just be too bad that they would be keeping an eye on a corpse all night.


	9. Chapter 9

**For those of you begging for a quick update...**

"Really, you're going with the pillow?"

Hoffman whirled to face the sudden light to his left, eyes widening in shock as he came face to face with the injured Detective Williams.

Danny was seated in a well-padded wheel chair just inside the entry to his room's private bathroom. He turned to look up at McGarrett who was leaning casually against the door frame, "I owe you five bucks." He turned back to Hoffman, whose head was still whipping back and forth between Danny and the young, blond HPD officer that was climbing from the bed, "you do realize that the sentence for attempted murder is one hell of a lot longer than the one for extortion, right? And now you have what, four more witnesses?" He waved a hand at Kono and Chin who had appeared in the main doorway to the room.

He glanced up at Steve with a smirk, "Book 'em Steve-o."

"That's my line," Steve grumped as he shook his head. Danny was putting on a brave front, but Steve could see the tightness around his eyes and the pain in his posture. He'd been against this plan from the start but Danny had been adamant; he wanted Hoffman behind bars, he wanted his family safe. He'd argued excessively that the Housing Commissioner would be coming after him but would be scared away if there was a guard hanging around outside his door; which Steve grudgingly admitted was probably true. Still he knew that his partner needed to be resting in bed, not sitting upright for hours on end waiting on a would be assassin. Hell it was less than 14 hours ago that he'd almost gotten killed by a car bomb- he should be in bed. And yes, Steve knew he sounded like the biggest mother hen on Earth, but Danny had almost died _damn it!_

Steve pushed those thoughts aside, instructing the HPD officer to take Hoffman straight to booking; no phone calls and no contact with the Jackson brothers. There was no way Steve was going to give him the opportunity to order another hit on Danny; having a free pass from the Governor really did have its perks sometimes.

It was rather comical actually, Hoffman was completely dumbfounded; the man still hadn't managed to process that he'd been caught, that he was going to jail. Steve couldn't believe his arrogance; to come after Danny not once, but twice in the same day and in such protected places as the Palace and the hospital. Hoffman obviously thought he was invincible.

He just hadn't counted on Danny being invincible too.

Steve grabbed the handles of his partner's wheelchair, watching Danny wince as he tried to find a more comfortable position, "and you think I try to be superman. Let's get you into a hospital bed that isn't part of an active crime scene."

Danny wasn't about to argue, he was tired and he was in pain. Everything seemed to hit him right as the HPD officer had snapped the cuffs around Hoffman's wrists; he'd done his job, the people who had threatened his family were behind bars and well on their way to staying there permanently. Even with the extra padding the nursing staff had added to the wheelchair, his shrapnel wounds still itched and burned from the pressure of the chair. His ribs screamed with each breath and he knew that he was worrying his team with his lack of hand motion but he simply couldn't drum up the energy to cause himself that much pain. Danny didn't even want to think about the damage done to his right hamstring; Jaycee had just finished whipping that leg back into shape after his knee injury. She was going to kill him or at the very least smack him upside the head for damaging her handy work.

Steve's concern kept him from ribbing the Jersey native further as they moved the two doors down the hall. Danny was completely exhausted and sweating heavily by the time Steve and the medical staff got him settled into the new bed. A shot of the good stuff into his newly placed IV finally had him breathing a little easier; the medical staff hadn't exactly been excited about Danny's plan either. In fact, Steve was sure Dr. Fraiser would have a lot to say about in the morning; she'd gone home for the evening thinking her troublesome patient was safety medicated in his bed for the night. That woman could probably give Danny a run for his money in the Ranting Olympics. If he didn't know better he'd swear she was related to that coinsurer of physical torture aka the Doctor of Physical Therapy that Danny had seen regularly for several months after he tore his ACL. Steve had been present for a couple of the sessions; the SEALs had trained him to endure various types of torture, but what that woman had put Danny through did not look fun. One look at Danny's face and Steve had to wonder if he'd just realized that he'd be headed back to therapy.

Danny looked up at him with wide, glazed eyes; the drugs had obviously kicked in. "You'll keep Grace and Rachael at the safe house for a couple more days won't you?"

"Course, you know I won't let anything happen to them. Although, we may have find Stan a different place to stay; that man got himself so deep in the dog house I'm not sure Rachael will ever let him out." Steve laughed appreciatively, remembering the look on Rachael's face while Stan was explaining himself, "she has some kind of temper."

"Tell me about it," Danny mumbled with an amused smile. "I was married to her for seven years."

"Yeah, kinda reminds me of you."

Danny managed a half-hearted glare before he finally allowed sleep to claim him.


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning Steve and Danny woke to raised voices in the hall outside Danny's new room. "No, I just spent seven years in higher education institutions, have my doctorate and a board certification, but what the hell do I know about medicine?"

Steve had been right, Dr. Fraiser was pissed and she could definitely give Danny a run for his money. Steve was out of his chair and out the door in two seconds flat, barely hearing his partner's call of 'CHICKEN!' follow him into the hall. The plan had been all Danny's idea, he'd tried valiantly to talk him out of it, but Steve knew that as far as Dr. Fraiser was concerned he was guilty by association. Steve was not sticking around for the punishment; besides she was a medical professional- Hippocratic oath and all, Danny wasn't in any _real_ danger.

Fraiser stared at his retreating back before turning an amused look on Danny, "Thought you too were supposed partners?"

"So did I." Danny replied, trying not to shrink too far back into his pillows.

"Relax Detective Williams," Fraiser laughed quietly as she leaned a hip against the end of his bed, "I know your type. I could yell for an hour, but I'd be wasting my breath because you'll just go and do the exact same thing next time. My brother's a cop back in Denver," she explained fondly; "I swear they issue the self-sacrificing attitude with the badges. I just thought it'd be a hell of a lot of fun to scare the crap out of Commander McGarret."

Danny tried to hold it in, because really, laughing with broken ribs hurt like a bitch, but apparently holding in a laugh wasn't any better. "Well then congratulations, because in nearly a year of working together I don't think I've ever seen him run away from anyone or anything."

"Well then, I'm glad I could supply some much needed entertainment." She made a quick but thorough inspection of Danny's vitals and some of the bigger wounds. Everything met approval except that her patient was sweating and grunting quietly with pain by the time she was finished; Fraiser finally stood back with her hands on her hips. "How's the pain?"

"Meh."

Fraiser raised an eyebrow.

Danny relented, dropping the tough guy act; not like there was any point since he'd already been told in no uncertain terms that the earliest he would be released was tomorrow morning. "Fine, my ribs are sore as hell and my leg is on fire. Happy now?"

"No, but I will send in one of the nurses with another shot of the good stuff. The more you sleep today, the quicker you will heal, not to mention time will go by a lot faster." She gave him a soft nudge and w knowing wink, "Plus I won't have to put up with you pestering my staff to get out of here early."

The nurse came in almost immediately after left. As promised the fluid that slide into the IV was definitely the good stuff; he started feeling that wonderful sense if detachment within seconds. At some point the team was in his room; the medicated haze kept him from fully comprehending what they were jabbering about, but he was sure he heard something about the interrogation rooms that was apparently hilarious. When he finally woke up for real, he felt the warmth of another body snuggled against his side; he didn't even need to look to know that it was his beautiful daughter. He gently maneuvered his arm to pull her closer and drop a kiss on her forehead.

"You have no idea what I had to go through this morning to get her to go to school. She's been so worried about you all day that she's completely worn herself out."

A glance down at Grace proved Rachael correct. Those blue eyes that mirrored his own were shut lightly and her face relaxed into the sleep of the innocent. "Thanks for bringing her again," Danny croaked, wincing at the scratchiness of his throat.

Rachael was instantly on her feet, offering him a sip from the bedside glass of water. She replaced it when Danny was finished and sat down awkwardly; uncomfortable with what she was going to say next. "Daniel, I owe you much more than a 'thanks again' for what you did for us. I know that Grace was foremost on your mind, but I also know that you would have done the same thing no matter who we were." She paused to take a deep breath, "that's one trait I never appreciated enough when we were together."

Danny opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Rachael didn't seem to notice.

"I've come to realize something through this horrible ordeal. I've always known that you were a fantastic father to Grace- even when I didn't want to admit it, but I always worried about her coming to harm due to your job so I've tried to limit your time with her."

Danny sputtered, "Rachael, you can't-"

"Let me finish, Daniel. I now realize that we live in the real world and that there's the possibility of danger no matter who she's with. And I also realize that I am doing more harm than good by not letting her spend time with you; Grace needs her father. So I contacted the lawyer and added an extra day to your visitation rights. "I know that your schedule is unpredictable, so each week you can just let me know what day works best for you."

Danny thought he might die of shock, "tell me I'm not hallucinating from the pain meds."

Rachael smiled gently, "no Daniel, this is for real." She stood suddenly, brushing imaginary dust off her skirt. "I have some errands to run this afternoon. Would you like me to leave Grace with you; I should be back in two hours."

"Yeah, of course she can stay." Danny was still having trouble processing their whole conversation, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth either. He sifted slightly on the bed, the drugs were starting to wear off; but Danny didn't care now, he had Grace to keep the pain at bay.

Ten minutes later he was a hair's breath away from being asleep, when a soft knock sounded on his door. Danny didn't even try to hide his shock this time, "Stan?"

"Yeah, ah, hi." Stan stood awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot. It occurred to Danny that he'd never seen Stand fidget before, even at the start of this whole fiasco.

"Yeah, so I, ah," Stan ran a nervous hand through his short hair, "look, I know thank you doesn't begin to cover it, but- Thank you."

Danny did the only thing he could; he gave a short, manly nod of acceptance.

"Look I heard that you're going to be stuck in a wheelchair for at least another week or two. From what Rachael says, there's no way you'll be able to get around your apartment in a chair; so I took the liberty of reserving you a room at the Hilton. It's close to work and the suite is ADA accessable." He held up a hand to forestall Danny's rejection. "I know I don't have to and I know it doesn't begin to make up for what I did, but really, it's the least I can do."

Stan stepped forward to lay an electronic key card on the bedside table, "it's room 514. Grace will love the pool."

He left the room without another word, leaving Danny staring at an empty doorway in shock.

Rachael had come and gone with Grace, when the team stopped by for the second time. Steve plopped himself unceremoniously into the chair nearest Danny's head, Kono and Chin following suit.

"So Brah, how was the rest of your day?"

Danny just shook his head, "really, _really_ weird."

***Thanks to everyone for the continued support!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry for the delay; a broken finger severely hampered my already horrible typing skills. Thank you for all the support and reviews; I hope you all enjoyed it.**

"You didn't."

Steve gave him an innocent look, "I didn't think you'd have an issue with it."

"I don't; I just can't believe you did it." Danny took a long look through the two way mirror. Seth and Sam Jackson looked like absolute hell, not surprising considering they'd just spent three days straight sitting in an interrogation room. Danny wrinkled his nose as a horrible thought wormed it's way into his head, "you did give them bathroom breaks, right? Cause otherwise, that's just gross man."

Kono shook her head as the guys snickered childishly. She still didn't think the hospital should have released Danny yet; their Haole looked like the walking dead except that he wasn't allowed to walk for another 2 weeks. Right now, Danny didn't look like he could intimidate a fly let alone two hardened criminals who'd spent 72 hours in a ten by twelve room with only a metal table and chairs for company. However, she also knew that now that Danny was here he wasn't going to waste the opportunity to ensure that the Jackson brothers knew exactly how stupid they'd been to cross that line.

"You sure you're up for this Danno? I have no issue leaving them in there a couple of extra days."

The Jersey native gave his partner a grateful nod; "I may not be a Super SEAL like some people in the room, but I can definitely handle these two morons."

At that Steve stepped back with a wave of his arm and a "by all means" gesture. Knowing exactly what he was doing, Steve tried not to chuckle as he watched Danny's frustration mount.

Danny huffed out a heavy sigh, "does it look like I can push myself?" He indicated his right arm that was still trapped in a sling and tried to look as stern as possible.

"Do I hear a please?"

Danny glared at his team, all of whom were trying to keep each other from falling on the ground laughing, "watch it rookie. Fine, _please_ somebody push me in there so that I can put the fear of God into those two degenerates that had the audacity to hold a gun on my sweet, innocent, eight-year-old daughter!"

Kono sobered immediately and grabbed the handles of Danny's wheel chair and pushed him into the adjoining interrogation room. These men had threatened Grace; while the whole team loved Grace, they loved Danny even more and the Jackson brothers had tried very hard to take him away from them.

Seth nudged his brother, "look at this; they send the girl and the cripple to intimidate us."

Williams glared with a pair of the coldest blue eyes the brothers had ever seen. "No, they sent the _father_ of the little girl that you thought it would be a good idea to hold a gun on." He gave Kono the 'I've got this' nod as she parked his wheel chair on the opposite side of the table from their prisoners before turning to go. "So, at the risk of sounding cliché; are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

The Jackson brothers weren't impressed. Seth scoffed, "it's not like you can do anything to us."

"Really, you're sticking with that," Danny couldn't resist rolling his eyes. Although his injuries limited his movement, Danny's left hand was slowly winding up to its full repertoire of motions. "Did you miss the fact that you've spent the last three days in an interrogation room with no contact to the outside world? The Governor gave us full immunity; can your tiny little brains even comprehend what that means? It means I could slowly cut the two of you into pieces smaller than the gun you held on my daughter, I do happen to know the perfect little shark cage out in the middle of nowhere, then there's always tying you to the hood of my car- but there's two of you so we'd have to use Steve's truck too, or we could just leave you in here to die of dehydration- I hear it's a nasty way to go, or…" Danny continued to tick the options off on his fingers and watch the Jackson brothers pale with each new idea. He even astounded himself with the depths of his creativity. "And, judging by the birthday present the Governor gave my daughter last month, something tells me she won't bat an eye when the two of you are never heard from again."

Seth sputtered, "but you need information on Hoffman."

"Meh, not really. We have the tapes and we have him red handed trying to kill me… so, I'm not really sure anything you could give me is worth your lives. I mean come on, you tried to kill me, by blowing up my car I might add. Oh yeah, and you held a gun on my daughter; did I mention that I'm a little upset about that." The room dropped ten degrees with the ice dripping from Danny's last statement. He saw Sam's eyes flick hopefully toward the two-way mirror, "They won't help you."

"So what are you actually going to do?" Seth swallowed heavily, not sure he really wanted to know the answer. They had obviously made the biggest mistake of their lives crossing this man; the rumors were right, you didn't mess with Five-O.

Danny was silent for a long time, "I think that I'm just going to let you sit here for another three days before you go to prison for a very long time." He motioned to the mirror for someone to come get him. He almost laughed when Steve strode in playing the intimidating Super SEAL to the hilt. Right as they got to the door, Danny let loose his parting shot, "a prison where I will make sure that _everyone_ knows you're a snitch."

It didn't matter if it was true or not; if the other inmates thought you were a snitch your life was officially worse than hell.

Steve kept his mouth shut until the door was shut securely behind them, "Damn Danno!"

"Seriously, you of all people have an issue with this?" Danny craned his neck to get a good look at his partner's face.

"Nope, just didn't know you had it in you." Steve suppressed a smile as he pushed the wheelchair back toward their offices and Danny's waiting daughter, "glad we were able to wrap this up so easily."

"Easy, you call my car getting blow into little tiny smoldering pieces- half of which, I might add were embedded into my flesh- easy? Not to mention the two serious attempts in my life in less than 24 hours, and the..."

**~_Fin_**


End file.
